fading you (micrometer you 2)
by Rasielis
Summary: Aomine hates the world whether he admits it or not. He hates his creator for making him the way he is now. Day by day, he goes on, secretly seeking for something that would make him alive, ranging from taking women to his suite, doing his boring job, and letting Momoi drag him owly, he finds his purpose and he feels the most forbidden feeling for androids. Love.


_**A/N: Before you proceed, please read 'micrometer you' first, it will help you understand what I'm talking about here more.**_

_**[=]**_

_What Aomine knew..._

**When he first met her, he doesn't believe that he'll see her again.**

Aomine has been leaning on the wall for half an hour, a cigarette trapped between his teeth. The smoke rises in a straight line and silently mingles with the cold atmosphere of September. He stifles a bored yawn and blinks twice, thrice.

If only the jobs Kiseki Agency's giving him is a bit more interesting.

But it isn't. And it's not like he ever complains. He had nothing better to do nonetheless.

Shifting one foot to the other, he stifles another yawn.

_Man, I'm sleepy..._ He thinks silently and a scream follows, jolting him in surprise. He nearly drops the cigarette.

"Get off me!"

He clicks his tongue as the same interjection repeats, this time louder and more persuasive. He pockets his hands and turns, locating the sound. He turns to the alleyway, not too far off from where he is, he sees something.

_Ah._.. His eyes narrowed to slits at the sight. A large scrawny man is forcing a female on the wall while the female struggles with all her strength.

It isn't much of a rare occurrence actually, and Aomine thinks of sidetracking but then something makes him stay.

"Get off me or I'll…" the female blushes but then continues. "I'll tear your balls off!"

The scrawny man ignores the sentence of bravery and laughs like a psychopath, his hands near to accessing her clothes.

Aomine clicks his tongue again and the man turns, surprised. Before the female and the man could make another move, Aomine tears off the man away from the female by grabbing the man's face. He then wordlessly slams it against the wall. The man is only able to cry out before losing consciousness.

"T-Thank you…" she says breathlessly. He glances at her from the tip of her head to the base of her foot and smiles. She tilts her head to the side quizzically and he responds by placing a hand on top of one of her mounds.

"YOU—" her hand immediately slaps him across the cheek.

**He knew that she's more than just the Doctor's daughter. To people like him nonetheless.**

"Midorima again..." Aomine raises a brow at the stoic green-haired man who stands as soon as he opens the door.

Momoi, on the other hand, disentangles herself from the stethoscope.

"It's none of your business," Midorima counters bitterly like he lost his weird lucky items again. "Be-sides, Aomine. You're supposed to be on post for the submission of minidroids, right?"

Aomine responds by giving Momoi a glance. She flinches unconsciously. Midorima follows the drift and sighs. Without saying anything, he turns for the door and slams it close.

"What the hell's wrong with him?" he asks while taking the seat the latter occupied earlier.

"He's conflicted," Momoi answers, taking his arm and pressing a button disguised as skin. A sound of soft whirring starts and the skin makes a rectangular outline and rises. He exhales, looking at the very reminder of his origin. Mechanism, wires, and small gears.

"...Aomine-kun?" Momoi asks incredulously, her smile straining. "You've done it again."

"What?" he feigns innocence like a kid asked to spill the truth.

"You know what I'm talking about, geez!" Momoi holds his arm still and pulls a silver bottle from her side. She opens it and slides it on the compartment. The slick warmth of special mechanism oil makes his senses tingle.

"Please, Aomine-kun, think of yourself more, would you?" she cries out helplessly. "You're worse than Midorima-kun."

He bats an eyelash to ignore her banter but the second line of her sentence makes him turn again.

"Worse than that weirdo? You mean he's also—"

Momoi press the skin button back harshly, sending a wild reverberation on his body. He winces in pain and snaps at her.

"The f*** is that for?!"

"Midorin would never go to night clubs or even have some s*x life!"

Her face flushes after sputtering, her breathing heavy.

"Hey, it's not that bad!" he frowns at her, dismayed. "If you only knew what a healthy—"

"He's in love!" she bursts out, then covers her mouth quickly as if it's enough to cover up what she revealed.

Aomine's eyes widen in surprise. "W-What?"

An array of rules spills on his mechanical brain, it recounts every single rule he has to avoid. He hears these things before he even get to bed with a woman and he learned to ignore it.

But the mention of that simple one word makes the rules harder to ignore.

"F-Forget it!" her eyes plead but the rules were louder, forcing.

"That bastard..." Aomine squeezes his eyes shut. "He's not supposed to feel love."

Momoi's face saddens at his statement. Her gaze lowers. He had known her for a month after he saved her from the scrawny guy. Known that she's actually the daughter of his maker and she's in charge of keeping their systems going. The whole month is enough to make him get her small mannerisms. If she's like this, she wants to counter him but at the same time afraid to do so.

"What is it?" he frowns, crossing an arm over the other.

"I know Father designed you all that way... but I do think Midorin falling in love is a nice thing."

He flinches at the softness of her voice. It's not like he'll ever get love or even feel it. He clears his throat and pushes the sleeve down to cover the skin.

She gazes up to him, inquisitive. He exhales out of contempt.

"Does it have anything to do with me?"

Her eyes widen in surprise then she blanches away. "Ri-Right... anyways here..." she pulls out a small vial from the med cabinet and hands it to him."If you suddenly burn up..."

She strains a smile and he returns it with a scowl.

"I'm not a little kid," he grabs the vial and stalks out of the room. But he notices it even when the door slams close, her sad and worrisome expression.

**She's an annoying prick but he'll always care.**

Aomine hisses at the woman underneath him. A constant ringing buzzes on his head. His androperipheral pops out incessant reminders.

_Please come home. -Momoi_

_Please be here. -Momoi_

_Please, Dai-chan_

"What's wrong?" the woman beneath him asks, wounding her arms around his neck like some venomous snake.

"Damn it..." he always feels conscientious whenever Momoi calls him with that cutesy nickname. And now he's starting to feel sick of this sultry woman before him. He grunts and brushes his fingers on his hair. "Get off."

"Eh?"

_Stupid people who can't follow stupid instructions._

He removes her arms away from his shoulders and starts grabbing his clothes from the floor.

"You're going already?" she asks, purposely sticking her mounds together to bring him back to bed. His mouth waters, but he shakes his head still to get his mind to concentrate.

He turns his back and finishes buttoning his polo. He pulls out his PDA and process the money he'll pay her. He exhales again and gets off the luxury hotel room.

He gets to the elevator and another pop-up appears.

**Model: XXXAOIX33561286**

**Do you wish to go too Ms. Momoi's office?**

He exhales, and then inhales. "Yes, of course."

As soon as he replies, he disappears after a blink and when he reopens his eyes, he already stands before her office. She perks up and cuts whatever he's planning to say by wrapping her arms around him.

"Midorin is... Midorin..."

She shakes to a sob and grips him tightly. He scowls in confusion. What else would happen to that weirdo? Last time, he had half of his torso broken. His visits on Momoi's clinic seem to be often too. And that guy turns half robot that they had to reprogram him. Lately, he ends up getting his memory card removed.

What else would happen?

"What happened?" Aomine asks, giving up to the sobbing mess. If there is something he can't handle in people, it's when they start breaking to tears.

She raises her tear-brimmed eyes to him. "Mi-Midorin is gone."

And that brings the surprise. "What?"

He feels something whirr weirdly on his chest. A small sudden glitch on his system. He isn't particularly close to the weird greenhead but since they were created by the same person, it still stings him. The door opens across the room revealing a female clutching at a small diamond program, the remnants of what was once before the greenhead. Aomine's head sparks in recognition.

"Where is..." her eyes blazes in despair, anger and guilt."Doctor?"

Momoi breaks from the hug, still sorrowful now that Midorima's remaining memory has been brought here. "You—"

"For God's sake! Just take me to your fucking father!"

Aomine grabs the woman's arm as soon as she snaps at Momoi. It's one thing he can never forgive. "Watch it woman."

The woman brandishes Midorima's program to his face. Her eyes stings with tears. "I love him... Do you really think that I'll let him be like this?!"

Aomine curses under his breath. "Who's fault do you think it is?!"

The woman tugs at her arm. Her eyes still blaze, struggling and fighting. Momoi stands near him now, clutching his arm to still him. However, the growing storm still spirals inside him. Persistently, angrily, and slowly eats away at him.

"We're not allowed to love so face that fucking fact woman!" his grip tightens in the woman's arm.

"Dai-chan, stop!" Momoi cries out, tugging at his arm.

"Whatever you do, nothing can bring Midorima back!"

When his outburst rests and he ends up gasping, Momoi lets go and the woman sinks to the floor clutching the program in her chest and crying. He releases her and turns to Momoi who gazes down, stunned. He parts his lips. He wants to blurt out an apology. But what else can he do?

That's all there is to it. He and the remaining three models will have to bear with it.

[=]

"Care for company?" Momoi asks, her tone unusually cheery.

"Not really..." Aomine replies as he blows off the smoke from his cigarette. Momoi doesn't pay attention to his sentiment, instead she seats opposite him and grins.

"What?"

"Akashi-kun wants to make sure that you're okay."

He scoffs to hide what he really feels. Well, that's just it, three weeks had passed when Tono Sayaka bursts in the clinic to meet the Doctor. After that, a funeral to a coffin that owns nothing but a diamond program is arranged.

Aomine hadn't been well at those times, he had downright threatens Tono for letting Midorima deteriorate. He had been harsh and bitter, not stopping until Kise and Murasakibara had to pull him away while he spats curses at the female.

It's all in the damn program. Because his server is created right after Midorima's, he's the one affected by his deterioration. He cannot accept that someone can just break that weirdo and even live.

Aomine shakes the liqueur in his bottle, "Do I look okay to you?"

Momoi reaches out for another bottle on his case and before he could even open his mouth to complain, she takes half of its contents and coughs off after.

"You don't have to suffer alone," she exhales, her eyes blinking back tears from the effect of the acid. "And besides… Midorin chose to spend his last ticket of living to make Saya-chan remember."

He shakes his head at her stupid act of heroism and leans back, massaging his temples. "What good did that do…?"

Her gaze lowers on the bottle and she takes another sip, coughing in distress right after. He sighs and takes the bottle from her. "You're making my head hurt by trying to look strong. Stop it."

"B-but..." she lowers her gaze and smiles as if remembering something.

He doesn't point it out, instead he starts emptying the bottle she drinks on earlier.

"What if you fell in love too, Dai-chan?" her voice of slithery but it still forms coherence.

He stops drinking and settles the bottle down. He meets her smiling face and searches it for answers. The rules reverberate on his brain, the series of zeroes and ones start to pound.

"As if I'd even try doing that..." he blurts out before he even decides to say something else. "I'd deteriorate."

Momoi reaches out and leans forward. Her warm hand rests on his cheek. The rules calms down and his mind projects only this simplistic girl.

"If only..." she says silently."You knew how happy people are when they love..."

It hits him and he ends up slapping the warm hand away. "Need I not remind you that I'm not human?" he asks bitterly. He had seen what love is, and he's been searching for anyone who can make him feel it. But what can he do when those damn rules keep on reminding him that he'll break as soon as he love?

Momoi looks up to him and stays silent. He exhales and turns his heels about to leave her and her impossible theories.

"I hope..." she starts, stilling him in place."I can make things right for you, for Midorin and for everyone."

Except she couldn't, it's just their creator's logic and going against it is suicide.

**She cries over break-ups and he hates it.**

He hears another sniff as he crosses over the halls, hands deeply buried on his pockets. He swivels to his side seeing an outline on the stairs. Its shoulders hunch and shake a little.

"Satsuki?" he asks, the name sounds too formal to his ears and he can't help but wince when he hears himself call her that. Calling her Momoi just reminds him of the sick bastard who created him.

The outline's shoulders rises in recognition and a voice chokes out. "Ah! Stay there and don't come here, Aomine-kun!"

He shifts his eyes to his right, contemplating if he will still head to his room or if he had to join her here. She's crying again after all.

"Geez, what are you crying there for?" _Why do I always choose the latter?_ He strides to her quietly and stops when she stands swiftly.

"I-It's nothing!" she takes a shaky step back and sniffs.

He exhales, like he could ever get himself used to this. "You don't have to suffer alone, right?"

"D-D-Dai-chan," and then he ends up sitting beside her as she starts to narrate her supposed to be heartbreaking story. For him, women are always like this. Wanting someone to listen to their long heart wrenching and mind bulging monologues. Except he's not too annoyed when it's her, so he stays listening to what she's going to say.

"Why are you crying over a flimsy break-up?" he scowls in confusion. "Just get over it."

This is the twelfth time already. The guys who thought of dating her always seemed to have the same idea of ditching her without reasoning it out.

"But I really really love Senji-kun!" she cries out like usual, defending her ex like she's going to win him back with it.

Aomine rubs a palm on his head, "No, you just like him. There's nothing heavy with that."

"...He's different from others..." she sniffs, lowering her gaze. He wants to snap and tell her that fucker isn't too different from the others.

Instead, he stands up from his seat and pockets his hands again. "Just give it a damn rest, will you?"

"Bu—"

"No buts." He takes a step forward. "Just get some rest and stop obsessing over some bastard."

"He's not like you, Aomine-kun!" she huffs out and rises to full height. "Geez, you're so heartless!"

The term makes his eyes widen and her covering her mouth in surprise. "I-I'm sorry," she blurts out guiltily.

His lips curl to a self-satisfied smirk. "I don't really care, woman."

He swivels around and returns to the halls. _Heartless, huh?_

**Model XXXAOIX33561286**

**Where to, Mr. Aomine?**

He smiles at his program's question. "That fucker's place."

**He will always try to find a way to make it up to her.**

"Aomine-kun," he swivels to her direction as soon as he hears her call. The smoke from his cigarette voluntarily touches her creamy white face. "What?"

She pulls the cigarette away from his face and stomps at it. "We're not here for you to stand there getting bored!"

He doesn't listen instead he pulls another stick and is in the process of lighting it. She whisks it away from his hand.

"Listen to me for goodness' sake!"

It is enough to infuriate him that he glares at her. "What the hell's wrong with you, woman?"

"Geez!" she holds his arm and starts dragging him back inside despite his complaints. The preschool students' eyes start to flicker in interest at the sight of him.

"Okay, kids this is Aomine-kun and he's going to help me teach you~" Momoi announces and the kids start clapping gleefully to welcome him.

"Yay~!" the kids cheered, all their little hands rise to the air like little waves rushing to the ocean. Their faces are bright, wistful... a faint reminder of kindness in their world. Aomine tenses a little. His job usually involves making sure that small microsystems continue to work to be able to have the network work properly day-to-day. Taking care of kids isn't a part of that serious job.

"So, what should I do?" he whispers to Momoi and she responds with a wink. She pulls out a small guitar figure on her pocket and passes it to him. He scowls for a while but then sighs, understanding what she's trying to say.

"We're going to sing and dance~" Momoi announces, moving her hips when she says the word 'dance.' Aomine gulps at the small gesture, feeling something weird with his system. He shakes his head and taps the small guitar figure with his index finger. Slowly, and like magic, the guitar starts to morph until it slowly forms to its original size.

The kids clap their hands in amazement, their small eyes twinkle and it warms Aomine's mechanical heart. He returns the smile and starts strumming the strings, a softhearted song resounds across the four walls of the kindergarten classroom.

"So then let's start," Momoi claps her hand lightly and grins at the children who get her drift and starts placing their hands on their waists. "Mary had a little lamb~ ready sing~"

He shakes his head at the song yet he still plays it, letting his fingers rise and fall across the stings and creating the song that makes the children dance to their hearts' content.

She's the most hyperactive of them all, exaggerating her dance by moving her hips and her body too much and though he tries control he cannot help but admire the way she moves. If she doesn't drag him here, he wouldn't even see this nor discover her hidden dance talent.

"Dai-chan you dance too~!" Momoi exclaims, her eyes meet his and her smile widens.

"No way," he laughs at her passable joke. "I can't do that."

"Yes, you can~"

And soon he's moving his body to the music too. All because of Momoi's simple trick on his system. He stumbles uneasily first and in discomfort, he would have stopped playing. However, as the beats starts to go to its cheery mode he starts enjoying himself. The kids even had to laugh with how silly he moves his hips and how he twirls like some confused kid.

Despite it, he's laughing as if this is the funniest moment in his life and he's allowed to live it once. Like for the first time he feels like he's human and not the second created android for the First AndroProject.

[=]

They were still laughing, Momoi touches his arm to steady herself and he holds her up. The kids bid them goodbye earlier after a series of silly games and dancing lessons mainly led by the cheerful Momoi.

"I should have taken you in the first place...," she states, catching her frenzied breath. Her eyes meet his with a smile. Her face crimson from all the laughing they were doing.

"Who were you taking before me?" he asks, holding her hand in his arm feeling her warmth with it and slowly but surely, his heart reverberates.

"Midorin."

He laughs again, this time louder than the last. Who in their right mind will take Midorima to assist in teaching little kids? The stern guy will surely scare the kids off with his straight face and his weird lucky items.

She doesn't laugh instead she smiles a little. "Midorin is blushing a lot at those times... he doesn't look comfortable."

He stops and turns to her, seeing the reminiscent look on her face. Midorima has been gone for a month now and all of them had slowly moved on. He even forgot that Midorima's deteriorated because of some flimsy reason.

"Of course, he wouldn't..." Aomine says, testing his own reasoning. "But he would have at least done what I have done earlier."

She squeezes his arm a little. "You're different, Dai-chan..." she smiles up to him, wide and genuine. "You're innocently growing."

With her face this close, he feels breathless and wanting to pull her close and just kiss her. But it doesn't make sense even to all the microsystems in his body. Why would he even want to voluntarily kiss anyone? He wouldn't normally do that, he let woman kiss him. His eyes widen. A sliver of fear crosses his spine as he feels a small spark on his gears.

She raises an eyebrow in confusion while he blanches away, moving two shaky steps back. "There's a spark!"

"Dai-chan?" she asks, taking a step forward to him. He moves back again, his right hand rises to still her in place.

"Not an inch," he warns, anger bubbling to his throat. For the first time in his life, he feels fear snaking down every single gear of his system. It feels like a nasty bug or a sudden malware that he had to clean up.

"What's wrong?" she places a clenched fist near her chest, her face fills with worry and tension. He wants to shake it off her face and return her smile. But he cannot move an inch from where he is and doesn't know what to do with the fear eating him slowly.

"... The gears sparked...," he mumbles more to himself, repeating a fading nightmare with all the hopes to erase it and just get on immediately. The rules start to hum, crossing all over his system and for once, he feels like he's going to faint.

"What do you mean?" she asks, the rising tension apparent on her voice. He could only swallow uncertainly. He can't possibly know what's happening to him. And deep inside, it feels something bad He exhales and without another word, runs away from her and away from the world that slowly falls on him.

[=]

The small male seating on the executive chair gazes up to the newcomer who hastily slams the door close as if someone's following him. The tanned male walks to the former's table and slams both hands on it.

"The gears sparked!" Aomine, the tanned male, shrieks. Fear runs at every single line of his face and sweat starts to form on his temples. The small male raises a brow at the notion, not catching the drift.

"Come on, Akashi. You know what this means!" Aomine complains, panicking.

The small male, Akashi, merely shakes his head a little. "Unfortunately, I wouldn't know anything about it. Your gears wouldn't normally spark." Akashi taps a finger on his desk, wrapping his mind around Aomine's notion.

The tanned male paces the room, grabbing at his hair and mumbling incoherent words. Of all the years he had known the latter, Akashi never saw him in a state where it felt like all the walls here will crumble and bury him alive.

"Maybe it's just a small misstep," Akashi discerns. "You can ask Satsuki for a vial."

"Not when she's the one who caused this!" Aomine faces him, hatred and fear rages on his stormy blue irises causing Akashi to pause. _Momoi_caused it? The thought lingers on the air filling it like an air bag that would explode once it's released. Akashi nods his head a little and recognizes the same fear he felt after Midorima's third reprogramming.

"You might want to distance yourself from Satsuki," Akashi mutters, testing the weight of this order. He knew how close the two had gotten ever since Midorima's death. Being the fact that he asks Momoi to help Aomine get over the tragedy.

Aomine sits on the spare chair, his face paints distress over and over again. And Akashi recognizes the hesitation along the raw emotions of fear.

"You know the rule, Aomine." Akashi looks at the tanned male sharply to will the main point across. "You have it in your system and it warns you whenever it happens."

Aomine's eyes widen in surprise and sudden realization. "You don't mean."

[=]

Aomine sags on his couch. The suite is empty and terrifyingly cold. He's not in the mood to even call any of his call girls to watch the raw fear way from his system. He simply lies there, feeling like he's going to explode at any minute or even deteriorate all of a sudden.

His system recognizes the foreign existence of the forbidden rule. It's the cause of the spark and he cannot believe it. He cannot believe that if he strays a little while he will meet the same fate. The fear accumulates too fast and he doesn't know what to do with it.

Across the room, his PDA beeps indicating a received message. He flinches at the sound and exhales deeply to calm his nerves down.

"Answer..." he mutters, not even hearing what he said.

The PDA beeps and projects the image of the sender. To his horror, it projects Momoi, her face bright with worry.

"Aomine-kun, please don't carry it on all by yourself," she states, her lips curls to a worrisome smile. "I'll help at the best of my abilities. Just let me."

He breathes in and then out. "Like I'd need it," he masks his tone properly, hoping that it wouldn't betray anything else. "You'll just make me overwork myself again."

The message strikes her and she frowns, annoyed. "Why can't you just lay it down and stop being stubborn?!"

"I don't need your help, woman!"

"I want to help you!"

"YOU DON'T HAVE TO!"

He stands as if ready to tackle and unseen enemy and kill it with his bare hands. She holds her ground despite the scary expression he's making. She looks more vibrant with the urge to straighten whatever's wrong with him and make it alright. And he wants to fall deeply to the temptation of having to depend on her and simply lay it down.

"Dai-chan. I can't possibly leave you alone so please..." he turns the message off and sinks deeper on the couch. He has to badly let someone reprogram him.

**He cannot let her go just because of fear.**

Momoi pouts at him, her arms lay atop one another. Her eyes sharp at his direction. He shifts in discomfort, trying to hold his ground. Several weeks had passed ever since he pushed her away because of the sudden spark. It turns out that it isn't actually serious. His over exaggeration of feelings on that day led to the incident but all in all, it's nothing. Now he's trying to apologize and she looks like she's not going to accept anything he says.

"I have something—" they both spats out, their eyes blinking twice.

"You go first," Aomine says, getting on his usual gentlemanly act. Momoi shakes her head. "No, you go first."

"Do you really want me to steal the spotlight?" he asks, raising an inquisitive eyebrow. Women would hate men who steal the show often and he doesn't want to have her hating him. During the past weeks, he missed her annoying presence beside him and he cannot just let her go.

Momoi nods solemnly, her brows still deeply furrowed.

He sighs and copies her usual expression of gazing down. "I'm sorry...," he mutters, barely hearing himself. He's a prideful man, he doesn't know nor even apologize. Doing it now makes him feel foreign even to himself. He feels like he sounds silly.

"Yes? Aomine-kun?" she asks, not acting convinced and forcing him to repeat the foreign words he's muttering. He shifts uncomfortably in his seat and clears his throat, testing his voice if it can say the words louder for the second time.

"I'm sorry."

"You were saying?"

"Damn it! I said I am SORRY!" with the sudden rise of his voice even the other constituents inside the restaurant turns their bewildered heads to the table's direction. His eyes flash at them, scaring them off back to their tables.

He turns to Momoi grumpily and she responds with a fresh laugh that gets his adrenaline to rush across his system like multiple snakes wriggling their way at every hole. He even feels like he flushed in embarrassment.

"Don't laugh," he says, scratching the back of his neck, acting like a shy little boy newly introduced to the class.

"I'm not laughing..." she holds her stomach to still the bubbling laughter but then falls to guffaws right after. He twitches uncomfortably on his seat, wanting to shout at her for being rude but he cannot do it. He simply stays there staring at her bright face, now filled with mirth. The trace of all the worry now gone from her face. And even if he doesn't admit, he likes it more when she smiles and when he's the reason why.

"Are you done?" he asks, resuming his usual demeanor. She stills and retains a smile. Her hand reaches out and covers his.

"You're forgiven," she confirms and gives his hand a light squeeze.

"Really?" his brows furrow, wondering why she's forgiving him quickly. The women he knew usually cannot forgive even after three weeks, he really had to serenade them back to him.

"You want me to hate you again?" she asks, tilting her head to the side. He clears his throat and shifts again.

"Of course not."

"That's why you're forgiven," she takes her hand back and the warmth fades almost too quickly that he miss it and want it again. "Besides, I have to introduce him to my best friend, right?"

"_Him_?" before Momoi can answer, a tall guy appears from behind and gives her a kiss on top of her head. She giggles, an apparent blush crosses her face. "Yes, him." She motions the tall guy who frowns at Aomine for a while before relaxing.

"Satsuki didn't tell me that her best friend's a guy," the man settles beside Momoi and Aomine's fingers begin to twitch. "I should have run a background check."

"You don't have to," Momoi smiles sweetly, a different smile from what she usually gives Aomine. His fingers begin to twitch again and he cannot understand why.

The tall guy smiles back and lends Aomine a hand. "The name's Kagami Taiga. I'm her boyfriend."

"Hey, I'm about to tell him that!" Momoi pouts and Kagami pats her head to satiate her, it's making Aomine feel farther and farther away. Pushed back without him knowing and slowly drowning.

"Boyfriend, huh?" Aomine starts talking. "Hmm, how long will you last?"

"Pardon me?" Kagami bats an eyelash, obviously offended by what Aomine spats out. Momoi's brows meet in confusion.

"All the guys before you just dump her you know... and they last," he starts counting with his fingers to add to the dramatic effect. "Three weeks?"

Momoi's eyes widen in horror and Kagami flinches at the information. Aomine relishes on their reactions and grins like it's something he should be proud of.

"How about you Kagami Taiga, how long will you last?"

"Aomine-kun!" Momoi cries out in distress, she rises to full height bracing him for authority. He retains his grin, not threatened.

"Calm down, Satsuki," Kagami returns her to her seat and face Aomine, his face is dark and angry. "I will last a whole lot longer. I don't know what's wrong with the others but I would never let her go," he proclaims, his hand holding hers tightly. She looks at her boyfriend and her smile makes Aomine feel strangely sick.

The tanned male pockets his hands and nods, taking the role of Momoi's supportive best friend. "Then that's fine, I can leave her at good hands."

"Well that's good to hear," Kagami's face brightens with a tricky smile. "I can't have you nagging at me every second, right?"

Aomine doesn't have any intention to do that and to be honest, he immediately hates him as soon as Kagami introduced himself as Momoi's boyfriend. The tanned male doesn't know the reason why but the overwhelming antagonism is too strong for denial.

**She makes him feel a lot of things.**

"PLEASE!" Momoi pulls persistently at his coat and Aomine curses while pulling it back from her grip. The female simply barges in his suite after he just woke up from an afternoon nap. She starts nagging him to help her prepare some cupcakes for Kagami's birthday.

The bitterness grips his throat and he hesitates to help but here she goes, pulling at his coat to get him to submission.

"PLLLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEE, DAI-CHAN!" she pulls back harshly and loses her momentum. He strains to catch her only to end up falling on top of her. The warmth of her body makes an outrage on his system and it spreads like wildfire, he stays still despite it while she blushes madly.

"Dai-chan..." she mumbles quietly.

He stares at her for a long time, her face is so close and if he simply crosses the bridge, he'll be able to kiss her. Her breathing starts to get uneven too, her chest rises and falls. Her cheeks bright red as if it's burning.

"Cupcakes..." he mutters. "I'll help you make them."

He gets off her and offers a hand. She takes it and he supports her as she takes a stand. He looks away quickly when she glances up to him. "We can't afford to make you lose the only guy who loves you a lot."

She pouts at the indication of his statement. "I'm not that bad!"

"Yeah, right," he walks to his kitchen and starts pulling the ingredients. Of all the things, he likes about being an android is the fact that he can do almost every skill humans would ever have in certain fields with only human interaction as an exemption. He can get the cupcakes done in the span of fifteen minutes.

"Can I help?" she asks, moving a little closer to him. He glances at her and exhales before motioning the eggs.

"You can at least beat that," he says and she nods enthusiastically. She gets the beater and starts getting to her work. While he starts mixing things, he glances at her slightly. She's looking at him with enthusiasm like he's going to suddenly come out and perform miracles. He can't help but suppress a smile. Maybe... just a little... he can spend some time with her like this. Ever since, Kagami's introduced, they rarely talk and his routine starts to concentrate more on overworking. He stops drinking but still occasionally smokes and none off the call girls he knew incites him anymore.

Now that she's here, breathing and real beside him, he feels a whole lot more complete.

"Pass the flour," he orders her and she nods grabbing the flour and misstep ping at the same time. "Satsuki!" she reaches out to him and he lets himself off to catch her. He straddles the fall, their faces collide at the spur of the moment, and it comes, the wild urge of his spinning fantasies. He holds her to him and guides the kiss, gently. She doesn't respond at first but she slowly and uncertainly kisses back.

The rules start to overwhelm his head and make it pound harsher than usual but he ignores it with every fight he has in his body. All he can think of is her in his arms, of her soft lips in his and of every fiber of his being reclining to be with her.

This moment is everything he wants to remind himself that he's... even for a little while, a human. Just once.

[=]

Aomine stares off at the sea, the sun is about to set. The red rays splay over the clouds painting it red, orange, yellow. Usually, sunsets gives him a feeling of dread of sinking and never floating back for a long time. And now he feels the same way, the dread makes his stomach churn.

The cigarette is near to its end and he spits it out, letting the wind blow it away. He takes another stick and lights it. The smoke starts to rise slowly and fade to the looming atmosphere. He chuckles at the irony of the thought and pulls away the cigarette with a mechanic hand that had lost its skin after the three weeks he spent away from Momoi Satsuki.

It's funny how he overreact sometimes.

He's so afraid to become like Midorima, falling in love with a human and gradually wasting away. He wonders how Midorima felt during those last three seconds. Is he able to tell his feelings to the person he loved or even leave a small mark of his existence? Aomine cannot do any of these. The dream is already done.

Momoi is happy with someone else who finally decided to stay with her after all the break-ups she's been through. And what is he anyway? He's just the second project, a more refined one with a processor that makes his task twice as easy. He's not even human.

The sun fades to a red outline, tucked away safely in its cover and will rise again the next day to promise a new beginning to every single person in the world he's living on. But none for him. And that's how cruel it all is.

Akashi isn't too happy with his disobedience either and the short male had been requesting him to do undergo reprogramming. But Aomine doesn't like that. He doesn't want to forget the feeling while it continues to exist. He can't let it go of Momoi's warmth, of her perfect body against him, of her soft lips, her uneven breathing and her cutesy nickname for him. Nor can he forget the slap she gave him when they first met.

He wants to take everything he has of her with him. Just this once. Before he decides to take on his final decision.

From far off, a seagull cries as it crosses across the ocean. It's white wings flutters in the breeze and fades slowly out of sight. That would be for him too. He'll fade soon. He takes off the cigarette again and blows out smoke before throwing it and stomping the embers off. He pulls out his PDA and dials a message. The ringtone goes busy then after three beeps, asks for a message.

He smiles. Of course, Momoi will avoid him. He notices it too after the kiss, her obvious and blatant answer to his feelings.

He takes all his final thoughts and starts speaking. "Congratulations on getting married…" he laughs bitterly at the statement. He isn't happy about her getting married. "Who knows that someone will really stay that long, huh?"

He breathes out and brushes the mechanical hand on his artificial hair. "Don't worry about me, okay? Just concentrate on Kagami and your family. And when you have a baby, make me his or her Uncle. I bet your child will really like that." _What am I saying?_

"And if… Kagami does anything you don't like, don't give him the same treatment you're giving me. Don't just look down, argue when you have to because he'll listen. If he doesn't then I'll punch him for you," he feels the soft liquid falling from his eyes, it slowly drifts to his cheek. He takes another deep breath and mutters the only true thing he'll ever say for this last message.

"Goodbye..."

**Model XXXAOIX33561286**

**Ten seconds before self-destruction is completed. **

He wipes off his tears and gets to the edge of the cliff, the waves roar at him in blind hopes of threats but he already made up his mind. He closes his eyes and breathes in the atmosphere and grins. For the last time, the world really means something.

_He loves her._

_ I apologize for the sudden misprint earlier and I do hope you enjoy reading this._


End file.
